Features - Storage Innovations:

SILVERBACK, VITESSE TEAM ON FOOTPRINT iSCSI DEV. PLATFORM

Silverback Systems and Vitesse Semiconductor Corp announced the availability of the industry's smallest PCI-X form factor development platform with supporting iSCSI software, measuring only three inches high by six inches wide. This product will accelerate design cycles and minimize footprints in space sensitive applications, such as high-density blade servers and storage subsystems. Silverback's new iSNAP2110 development platform and dual Vitesse SimpliPHY Gigabit Ethernet copper transceivers power this design tool that is half the width of a typical board.

The new reference board is equivalent to a fully-featured, high performance, production-ready HBA (Host Bus Adapter), providing system designers, software developers and OEMs/ODMs a stable, flexible and proven framework for developing and testing their IP-based storage networking systems. The board utilizes each company's unprecedented advantages in low power, performance, footprint and reduced cost -- all hallmarks of the Silverback iSNAP and Vitesse SimpliPHY product lines.

Recent data and trends in the storage networking market make it clear that the combination of the ubiquitous Internet Protocol (IP) and Ethernet (which form the foundation of the iSCSI protocol) is a compelling and cost-effective solution for storage networking. Accelerating IP storage has been Silverback Systems' mantra since its inception.

"To enable OEM and ODM customers a time-to-market advantage, you need to provide a turn-key solution that includes a complete development environment for system integration and value-added software customization," said Ron Kroesen, vice president of marketing and sales for Silverback Systems.

The reference board includes iSCSI software drivers and firmware and features Silverback Systems' recently introduced, dual-port, gigabit Ethernet, storage network access processor, iSNAP2110, and two Vitesse SimpliPHY single-port 10/100/1000BASE-T transceivers, VSC8201 (formerly known as CIS8201). The complete reference board design kit is available now from Silverback Systems.

"By not having to re-engineer a complete, high-performance iSCSI platform themselves, our customers can save months of product development time without incurring any development risks. By providing from five to ten times better noise tolerance than the competition, Vitesse's VSC8201 copper transceivers, coupled with Silverback's iSNAP2110 processor, offer our customers a robust solution that's ready for volume production today," said Phil Callahan, director of SimpliPHY product marketing at Vitesse.